PUBLICATION CENTER

Photographic artists Linda Alterwitz-Mizrahi and Heather Protz recently collaborated on an exhibit of their photography blended together in one gigantic piece that gives gallery-goers an unusual perspective of one of the world’s most documented cities, Las Vegas.

The exhibit, held at the Springs Preserve in Las Vegas and which runs through April 5, was printed entirely on Sunset Photo eSatin Paper on two walls. The smaller wall is about 38 feet long, and the larger wall is about 63 feet long. The individual images, printed on eSatin, ranged from 35 in. x 35 in. to 35 in. x 104 in.

The prints were placed close together seamlessly and applied to Sintra panels using 3M double-sided removable poster tape, and framed with a plastic panel around the borders. To ensure a seamless look and to make the installation go as smooth as possible, Alterwitz-Mizrahi and Protz printed three-inch mini-prints, laid them out on the table, and rearranged them in various configurations to narrow down the specific images. During the sequencing, they also matched both panoramic images to fit both walls precisely.

“The gallery is round, so the shape of the walls made it somewhat challenging, but it was important to think of it as one piece, as opposed to multiple panels. It tells a story, so it’s more than lines, shapes, and colors. Most of the people we’ve heard comments from were drawn into it when they recognized places from a different perspective,” explains Protz. “The eSatin holds up very well. It doesn’t show fingerprints, which is important because it’s an exhibit space that many children come through, and we didn’t want to put up Don’t Touch signs; that’s distracting. We wanted it to be accessible, and the medium’s color, handling and luster were all perfect and helped meet that goal.”

The title of the exhibit, 6 Months: Shared Ideas Stolen Spaces, reflects not only the diverse and distinctive images the pair captured of Las Vegas, but also the diversity of each artist’s style.

The ironic element of the exhibit is that the two groups of images, taken independently, merge together so well into a cohesive whole.

In fact, Alterwitz-Mizrahi and Protz purposefully decided not to sign their work or distinguish between their photographs.

“We come from such different mindsets and approaches to our work, but one thing that’s similar are the printers and media we use: Epson and LexJet. Also, we’re both fascinated with printing on an extraordinary large scale. Our dreams include a thousand-foot pano,” says Alterwitz-Mizrahi.

“When we looked at the work as a whole, which was surprisingly similar in look and feel, we had to reevaluate how we would approach the show. Our conceptualization is different, but somehow we ended up with similar imagery. We decided to go with a giant panorama and put our work up without identifying who did what so that it was more about the art than the individual artist,” adds Protz.

Alterwitz-Mizrahi typically uses a toy camera for her work, manipulating the images within the camera. Her images are conceptualized based on the abstract expressionism of her fine-art painting. Protz, on the other hand, takes a more traditional photographic approach, which she then digitally manipulates for an abstract look.

“We gave a gallery talk last night and there were more people than there were seats, so that was a great surprise. People who saw the show wanted to find out more about the exhibit they saw the week before. They were inspired by it, and I heard people say that it makes them want to get their camera and go out and do something. That’s the greatest compliment,” says Protz.